Vale Don Edwards (7-12-1929 - 15-6-2021)

Photo:  Don Edwards (centre) with TSA board member John Steenhuis (left) and TSA Secretary Rodger Marlor. 

Don Edwards, one of the giants of junior football in Tasmania, passed away in Hobart last week at the age of 91.

Don lived at Battery Point and his family was involved with boats and sailing and it was no surprise that he represented Tasmania at yachting carnivals here and interstate.

Basketball was also one of Don’s interests and he was a player in that sport and also a club delegate.

He became a board member of the National Fitness Southern Recreation Association and was awarded Life Membership in 1979.

Don began his association with football in the early 1970s when his eldest son, Paul, started playing at primary school.

He became the school’s delegate to the Primary Schools Soccer Association and filled that role for two years.

Photo:  Don Edwards (second from left) with Barry Shacklady (left), vice president of the Australian Soccer Federation, Vic Tuting MBE, and Jimmy Law, secretary of Caledonians.  

He was subsequently nominated and then elected as president of that organisation and he began to reform it and established the three regions of North, Central and East in the greater Hobart area.

This resulted in numerous new teams being formed and the competition being expanded from under-10s and under-12s to include under-9s and under-11s.

Don helped organise and conduct tours for primary school select teams to South Australia and Victoria in the late 1970s.

He stood down as president in 1978 and was later awarded Life Membership.

He was team manager of a number of Tasmanian representative teams at national championships from 1977 until 1984.

Photo:  Don Edwards (left) with a Tasmanian junior representative side.   

Don subsequently became involved with the Tasmanian Soccer Association, the State’s governing body for the sport and helped introduce youth football to the south of Tasmania.

He was the TSA representative at Australian Soccer Federation meetings in Sydney for a number of years.

He was on the Board of Directors of the TSA for several years and later became chairman of the Disciplinary Tribunal.

He attended football games in Hobart until the early 2000s and enjoyed watching his two granddaughters play.

Don had a long involvement with local cricket, and especially with the Clarence District Cricket Club, of which he was a Life Member as well as a committee member and president.  He was a Board Member of the Tasmanian Cricket Association.

Don is survived by his wife, Pat, and children Paul, Michael, Simon, Justin, Nicholas and Margaret.

Photo:  Don Edwards and wife Pat (front) with Socceroo Johnny Warren.